The legal team for advice columnist E. Jean Carroll is keeping an eye on former President Trump talking about their client after his apparent reference to her in a rally speech last weekend, Carroll’s lawyer said Monday.
“Everything he said about her [Carroll] over the last five years has been a lie and has been defamatory,” Carroll’s attorney, Shawn Crowley, said during a Monday interview on MSNBC’s “Inside with Jen Psaki.”
“So we’re watching, we’re listening. We had really hoped that, as I think the jury found, that $83 million would maybe be enough to convince him to E. Jean Carroll’s name out of his mouth,” Crowley continued. “Apparently, he showed us this weekend that he really cannot control himself and that maybe that it wasn’t, but…we’ll see what happens as this continues to play [out].”
Trump was ordered last month to pay $83.3 million for defaming Carroll in 2019 when he denied the writer’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in the mid-1990s. He was previously found liable for the sexual assault.
Crowley’s remarks Monday were in response to the former president’s remarks during a rally over the weekend, when he appeared to reference Carroll in a discussion about his legal battles.
“How about the one two weeks ago?” Trump said to the crowd. “A woman, I’m saying, ‘Who the hell is she? Who is the woman?’ It’s so unfair what’s happening in our country. Our court system is a mess. What’s happening in our country, they have to straighten it out.”
Psaki played a clip of Trump’s remarks and noted to Crowley, “Trump knows exactly who your client is. He was found liable for sexually abusing her and then defaming her by lying about it.”
Asked if she watches Trump’s remarks and if they would warrant a third suit against the former president, Crowley said, “We certainly watch them. It’s hard not to every time Donald Trump speaks…I think we said at trial many times he has the biggest megaphone in the world.”
Shortly after the jury’s order last month, Carroll suggested she would “absolutely” sue the former president if he continues to defame her.
“Rachel, many people, as you know, have been through much worse than I went through at that trial,” Carroll told MSNBC anchor Rachel Maddow late last month. “People suffered more difficult things than I’ve ever been through in my life. And I’m more than willing to do it again, because we achieved so much in a seven-day trial. We did what people thought was impossible. We beat Donald Trump.”
Trump has claimed Carroll is lying about the assault and made up the accusation to sell a book.